Piedmont Craftsmen - Things with Wings

Things with Wings, May 4-26, 2012 
Piedmont Craftsmen Gallery
Winston-Salem

Upcoming show at the gallery in downtown Winston-Salem.  This is an all members show with the theme of wings. The opening reception will be part of the downtown gallery hop on the first Friday of the month, May 4th from 7-10pm. We hope you are able to attend. 

Magpies in Magnolia, hand made wall hanging platter, 12" diam. Cathy Kiffney

 This platter is from my return to slip painting, rather than carving and glazes.  I'm not giving up the carving just yet.  I have so many more ideas with this, I hope to have more time this summer to pursue this series.

An Evening in Paris

Imagine...you area strolling around Paris on a warm spring evening. You stop by a little cafe and enjoy delicious local fresh food prepared by talented chefs. Checking out the art shows in the galleries... you can do that tomorrow evening in Paris--the Paris of the Piedmont--Carrboro! Stop by and say Hi, I'll be at the North Carolina Crafts Gallery, 6-9pm

Butterfly Wall Vases

 

Some of the new pieces for my show at NC Crafts Gallery, April 1-30th. Hope you can stop by and see my show!  Second Friday Art walk and reception April 13th, 6-9pm

Making a big wall vase

from the same group, I did not have a picture of the big vase.

beginning to glaze

glazing

finished glazing, unfired

glaze fired

Show at NC Crafts Gallery

I've been neglecting this blog, but I have a good excuse --I'm working!!  Well, I know I could easily just pop a picture up but I hope to put a little more into the posts.  The blog has been an experiment anyway, I'm not really sure what I want to do with it.  The appeal is how immediate it is, I can have an idea about a post and boom, it goes up.  Not like waiting to update a web site which can happen maybe once a year.

I do have a feature show coming up at the NC Crafts Gallery. It is not a big space, but it is still a sweet place and the people at the gallery are just wonderful. Another bonus is that it is just a few miles away!

Emerald Green Moth Wall Vase
12"high x 8"wide
hand built ceramic, slips, glazes and decals

April Flowers

New Ceramics

Cathy Kiffney

April 1-30, 2012

Please join us for the artist reception

April 13, 6-9

during the second Friday Art Walk

 NC Crafts Gallery

212 W. Main St.

Carrboro, NC

I hope it you are in the area you will be able to stop in and see it, and it would be wonderful to meet you at the opening.

Happy Spring!

Before and After

Here is the bisque fired bird getting more glazes.  Remember the camouflaged birds from  a previous post. That is how they look before the bisque firing.

And here are a few just out of the kiln. I like the new glazes and I am enjoying the slip trailing process and the combination of the glazes with the slips.

Some of these new birds will probably be in my upcoming show at NC Crafts Gallery in Carrboro, NC.
April 1-30.  I am still working on more pieces and will see how the next two firings go before choosing the work to show.

Making Vases

It has been a while since I've made any free standing pieces, here is a start to a group of new vases for the spring!

Don't they look like a group of sentries or chess pieces? Slab built, some are kind of closed forms with openings for stems of flowers, others are open--those remind me of flowers.

All huddled together to be wrapped up for the night.  I don't have a plan yet for the glazes and surface, but I am thinking about majolica.  I used to work with majolica a long time ago and love the soft feel of the colors and surface.

Camouflaged Birds

Sort of!  New birdies with the first stage of surface work. When I finished working on them I realized how they matched the fabric on the work table right behind me. Note to self: surround yourself with beauty. I'm off to the garden center, it is beautiful today and should get up to 75 degrees today!

The owl and the rabbit...

Doesn't that sound like the beginning of a story?

Well, I've heard that every picture tells a story.

Here is mine.

It is a cold Monday here, I plan to warm up the studio and do some glazing. 

 Wishing you a warm Monday!

Getting back to work

Little bee pocket vase, terra cotta clay

 The last couple of days have been productive. It feels good to get into some raw clay, make some pieces...wall vases seemed to be on my mind so I started groups of butterfly wall vases, bird vases and little bee vases. Hopefully they will be ready for spring which is just around the corner.